Pages

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Fighting MRSA with new membrane-busting compound

ACS: Public health officials are increasingly concerned over
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The bacteria have
developed resistance to a number of treatments, even antibiotics of last
resort in some cases. Now researchers report in ACS’ journal Bioconjugate Chemistry
that a new class of compounds can treat MRSA skin infections in mice
with no signs of acute toxicity, and no signs that the bacteria would
develop resistance to them after many applications.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
every year at least 2 million people in America become infected by
bacteria resistant to antibiotics, and 23,000 people die from such
infections. Researchers have been working to combat this major public
health threat for years. One of the latest fronts in this fight involves
antimicrobial peptides and lipopeptides, which can destroy bacterial
membranes. But translating these molecules into clinical products has
been difficult. More recently, researchers have developed a new class of
membrane-busting compounds called lysine-conjugated aliphatic
norspermidine analogues (LANAs) that have been effective at killing
certain bacteria and the Ebola virus in lab tests. Mohini Mohan Konai
and Jayanta Haldar wanted to see if these compounds could also work
against MRSA.
The researchers found that LANAs were effective against four MRSA
strains in lab experiments. Testing on mice showed that the compounds
could eliminate MRSA skin infections, which form notoriously
difficult-to-treat biofilms. Even after 20 passages, the MRSA bacteria
failed to develop resistance to the compounds. The results suggest that
LANAs could be strong contenders for treating MRSA skin infections, the
researchers say.